Ambrose and Penske face a hot reception

Marcos Ambrose and Roger Penske's racing organisation should prepare themselves for a hot reception when they join the V8 Supercars Championship in 2015.

The news that the 2003-04 champion, who has raced in NASCAR for the last eight years, is linking with the US giant Team Penske and Dick Johnson Racing has been met positively by drivers and team executives, but no-one believes the new operation will be a dominant force.

Here's a cross section of that response:

Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Racing Australia) - raced against Ambrose in 2003 and 2005.

"I was a bit of a rookie back when Marcos drove. I remember following him in 2003, which was a huge achievement, for about three laps before he disappeared.

"I have got a lot of respect for the guy so it will be exciting for me."

Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) - raced against Ambrose in V8 Supercars 2001-2005.

"It is great to have a driver of the calibre of Marcos come back to the series. But I think the game has moved on a fair bit in the time that he has been away. He goes alright on the road courses over there but he has been predominantly turning left, so have to teach him how to turn right again."

Ross Stone - Ambrose's team owner throughout his championship-winning V8 Supercars career. Now Erebus Motorsport V8 general manager.

"I always thought he would come back and buy a farm in Tasmania and we would never see him again.

"I think it is really good for V8 Supercars and without a doubt he will go alright, but the series has moved on. So it is going to be really interesting. I have no doubt he will do a really good job.

"I am sure Penske will do a good job too. They have the runs on the board and their resources are probably second to none in the world."

James Courtney (Holden Racing Team) - raced against Ambrose in Europe and was his successor at Stone Brothers Racing.

"I think he will find it is a very, very different Championship to when he left. But he is a past champion, it will be good to have him back and he is a big name in our sport obviously from what he has done in America."

Brad Jones (Brad Jones Racing) - raced against Ambrose in V8 Supercars, will be a rival team owner to Team Penske. He is also a V8 Supercars board member.

"Things have changed a lot since Marcos was here, but I don't think he'd be coming back here if he didn't think he could do the job.

"There are young blokes running at the front of the category now that he would never ever have heard of. I think he will find it like NASCAR where any one of the top guys can win a race on any given weekend.

"When he was here there were only a couple of blokes capable of winning and now there is a whole heap so it will be interesting.

"I think it is fantastic that Roger Penske is coming in. We went through a process where we had people like Tom Walkinshaw coming in, David Richards with Prodrive, Roland Dane with Tripe Eight, so I can totally understand why he would want to be here.

"I definitely think he will be a threat, I think it will take him a while to get it all sorted out, but I don't know of any category he races around the world where he isn't a threat.

"It is fantastic for the business. I think people within the industry have a better idea of who he is and what it means than if you ask someone on the other side of the fence. But they will work it our pretty quickly.

"It just shows you how solid the series that someone with hat sort of reputation considers this a series he wants to be involved in."

Scott McLaughlin (Volvo Polestar Racing) - met Ambrose for the first time at a NACAR race when he holidayed in the USA mid-year

"It's pretty awesome news. I grew up watching the bloke and I am not going to say I hated him, but I was a Murph fan. He is a massive champion in our sport and he has done so much overseas for motorsport in Australia, promoting the V8 Supercars brand.

"I talk to him on email and he's been really good to me. He looked after me at NASCAR and I hadn't even met him before I got there so I only knew him from watching him on TV.

"It will be awesome to race the guy."

Rick Kelly (Jack Daniel's Racing) -raced against Ambrose in V8 Supercars 2002-2005.

"I'm really excited to have Marcos back in V8 Supercars next year.He has done extremely well in NASCAR competition and he'll bring back a wealth of knowledge from over there. We've really enjoyed watching his progress over there. It's a great thing for the category to have him come back.

"It's not going to be easy for him - V8 Supercars hasn't got any easier since he left, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see him up the front.

"It's also fantastic to see an organisation like Team Penske enter V8 Supercars. This is a team with international credibility, and many championships to its name. The category can be proud that it has attracted the interest and investment of such a high profile race team."